


Ready or Not

by writingfromdarkplaces



Series: These Small Hours [3]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s11e11 Homesick, F/M, Fluff, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7873243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingfromdarkplaces/pseuds/writingfromdarkplaces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellie's case with the sick kids brings up a subject she and Jake have discussed before: having kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready or Not

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I couldn't resist this idea. Should have, only I really liked the idea of the two of them and a baby. There is no actual baby here, but I thought with the events in this episode, they'd talk about it.
> 
> And maybe if I do end up giving into more AU concepts, this can help with one of them.

* * *

“Why didn't we ever have kids?”

Jake looked up from his legal brief, mouth dry. That was a loaded question, and he didn't know why Ellie would ask that after last night. They'd gotten into one of those stupid fights about nothing, and he was pretty sure it was his fault—he'd been dealing with a nasty legal mess he couldn't untangle, and he'd snapped at her. Now she was asking about kids.

“I think we both just thought the timing was wrong,” Jake said, hoping that was even close to the right answer. “I don't know... I always thought kids would happen when we were ready for them. Or maybe if we weren't, but we weren't in a rush.”

“Do you want them?”

Jake tried not to choke. Just about anything he said now would be wrong and he knew it. He was worried about the work she was doing—work she had no intention of stopping—and bringing a kid into that situation was far from ideal. It wasn't even great when she was only at the NSA. They still had risks. She could be sent to Afghanistan again.

He reached for her hand. “Honestly? I go through phases. There are times when I look at you and see your smile and then a little girl with that smile. I want that. And then there are days when I see the chatter in our office and it scares the hell out of me. I won't ever do it. I don't want to be a father in this messed up world. What brought this on?”

“You heard about the kids getting sick around the city, didn't you?”

Jake nodded. He had. There were even rumors of biological agents, and the whole office was on alert—which she would know if she was still working in it. He hadn't known that she was investigating it, though he should have. She was always somewhere where she could get hurt or killed. “You're working on that?”

“I am,” she said, sitting down next to him. She bit her lip and then smiled. “I see your eyes. A little boy with those eyes. And then I watch those parents worried over their kids, and I don't ever want to be them.”

“So neither of us is ready right now,” Jake said, cupping her cheek in his hand. “When we are, we'll discuss it again.”

“Yes.”

He eyed her with a bit of suspicion. “That's funny. I expected you to be obsessing over it some more. Planning out to the day the best strategical time for when we're ready but at our physical and emotional peak.”

“Who says I'm not thinking about all of that?”

He laughed. “Ellie, I _know_ that look. That one is the one that's saying making them is the fun part. Are you sure you want to—”

“We still have protection,” she said. “So when we're ready, it will happen, but for now... we can still practice.”

“Does this mean you're not mad at me for yesterday?”

“I think I've mostly forgiven you,” Ellie said, wrapping her arms around his neck.


End file.
